Examining the Relationship between Congruency of Perceived Principal Leadership Style and Leadership Effectivenes

Despite the constant interest in the theory and practice of leadership as it relates to leadership styles and leadership effectiveness, ongoing debate continues regarding the importance of leadership style and its effectiveness in the administration of underperforming schools. The problem addressed by this study was, despite frequent changes of school leadership, elementary schools in the target school district continue to underperform. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the congruency of perceived principal leadership style based on the perceptions of teachers and leadership effectiveness in three underperforming public elementary schools in an urban school district. Quantitative methodology and a correlational design were used for the study. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire was used for data collection. The participants were the principals and teachers in three elementary schools. Three research questions guided the study. The result for question one was that congruency was found between the principals' self-identified leadership style, transformational, and teachers' perceptions of their principal's leadership style. Question two determined the principal effectiveness rating for each study site. Question three's result indicated a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between teacher perceptions of their principal's leadership style and the principal's effectiveness. The results of the study could be used to maintain consistency in transformational leadership behavior and more consistency in the tenure of principals at the target schools. The positive relationship between leadership style and effectiveness should also be viewed as a positive built upon for improvement of the schools. A recommendation for future research is that a study on the same topic be carried out with a larger sample that might be more representative of the population. It is also recommended that a future research is done at higher performing schools to see if similar results would be obtained.